The Path of the King
by Neraciro
Summary: Shortly after Carly's disappearance, Jack reflects on his actions in the past and present - and what they have cost those around him. Part of a What-If Scenario, contains JackxCarly and hints of JackxMikage.


_Author's Note: This is an excerpt from what I intend to be a larger project. It is a What-If scenario version of 5D's based primarily on the Anime version of the story featuring certain differences to certain characters, such as Decks, certain character histories and certain character traits, as well as personal history. My primary goal is to give characters like Aki, Lua and Luca bigger roles as opposed to Season 2, which somewhat comes to focus exclusively on Yusei, Jack and Crow. Please R&R honestly!_

_**The Path of the King**_

When he had first set foot upon the Path of Desire, Jack Atlas had thought from that moment that he was the only person capable of being called "King". Even as a child he had watched the Duelling Tournaments held in Neo Domino City from the ruins of Satellite and spat in disgust. Every single Duellist he had ever seen back then had shown pitiful gaps in their armor, gaps which their opponents all too often forgot to take advantage of. And those in this day and age, for the most part were no better. Not a single one of them, after all could stand up to the relentless assault of his X-Saber Monsters. Through either effect or battle they had fallen upon the field of battle, and proved in doing so that they had been unworthy to stand upon it in the first place. His very soul, the Red Demon's Dragon had been a thing to fear and respect – something that had never fallen in battle.

Until _he_ had come, of course.

He shifted on the balcony, balancing himself. The railing beneath him was sturdy enough, but a single unwarranted slip from his position would inevitably result in a much larger slip – from the top of Public Security Headquarters to the Earth below. He looked down, and could see nobody except for the most distant of figures. Little more than ants from where he sat, lost in a maze of technology and buildings and each with their own destination in the maze.

_Even now,_ he thought silently to himself as he crossed his arms, _you cannot have me. Not like that. _As he thought he looked to the Stadium, where _it_ had happened. Washed in the golden light of sunset, the holographic figure that had appeared at the end of the Fortune Cup still looked over the city, staring down uncomprehending of those who met its gaze.

_Will he ever be called King?_ Jack thought to himself. As true as the title had been, it had also been a result of childish dreaming and his own ego that had led to him being called the King by so many without a second thought. He wondered now, but, if they had called him King out of self-imposed obligation, or if it had been respect. _Or will he remain as simply Yusei? _Certainly Yusei Fudo deserved to be called King now – he had earned the title without bringing deliberate harm to others. He, on the other hand, had not been so kind...

Looking back on it now, to those days in the run-down Satellite where a working car was a rarity for any outside of Public Security, it was hardly genius that was required to connect the dots. Why had he wanted to become King? Simply because he thought himself entitled to. And then until very recently, he had thought the King above the common rabble. Needless of the friends he had held close to him so long ago or, in fact, any others. And when Rex Godwin, Director of Neo Domino City had given Jack the chance to stay with his friends and remain that, or to betray them and experience the luxury of what seemed to be a Utopia, to even become a King - he had taken another step on the Path of Desire, and left them behind. Those who stayed with him now had been nothing more than acquaintances - even if they aspired to be more.

There had been an unspoken promise at the moment he had become the King - one of glory. He had earned the title, he had earned the right. He had ascended above even the snotty people of Neo Domino City, those who did not know of his true origins. Those who thought him a citizen of Neo Domino, just like them. How he had laughed back then, thinking of their faces should they learn a Satellite Duellist could defeat them so easily!

He had not felt this, but, not until recently. The sensation that deep down, he was still fighting for those close to him. To prove to the people below him now that his kind were just as good as those in this city - if not better. Never had he even dreamed it - it had taken Carly's words to accomplish such a thing.

Grimly, he looked down. In his hand he held the cracked pair of glasses he had recovered at the moment of Aki and Lua's rescue, from beside the corpse of the man Aki called Divine. The glasses that were absolutely unmistakable. Only Carly could wear glasses that covered half her head and still make it look normal. Despite himself, he smiled as he thought of her, but it was a short-lived smile as he closed his eyes.

The Path of the King had only served to hurt everybody around him, even himself. He could see the truth of it now, and he wished with all his being that he had seen it then too; the glorious golden trap, an illusion of grandeur. Even escaping the life-consuming trap had continued to hurt others. The glasses in his hand served to remind him of that, the life which his new path had cost.

Opening his eyes, he gazed out to the distant Satellite, draped in the light of the setting sun and in his mind's eye saw the Mark of the Spider he had seen at the Fortune Cup. He saw, once more his childhood home being destroyed and the split-second image of something rising, before it all faded into nothing once more.

This path, the Path of Desire was even now one to be wary of. Even as it changed to lead to that which its walker wanted to reach, it had been this path that had seen him embark upon the Path of the King three years ago, which had seen him betray those who had been as close as blood to him. It had seen him wrong people without batting an eye, and it was only through battle now that he and Yusei could feel that which made the other; a constant calm for Yusei, always ready to stand against any challenge and persevere while for Jack it was a turbulent soul, one that would stand in the arena of battle with allies both weak and strong and yet strike down anything that came at them…until that moment, in which Yusei had struck down his very soul and inadvertently freed him.

The glasses slipped in his hand, and Jack immediately tightened his grip. He had hoped to spare Carly by releasing her, and yet this had happened. Would it have, he wondered, if he had accepted her by his side? Would the danger here have been less than the danger there? Either way, he knew it was too late now. That which Rex and Kiryu had called an Earthbound God - a monstrously sized Giant and a Hummingbird - had absorbed the souls of the helpless life nearby. He doubted very much that she had simply dropped her glasses in the confusion.

Almost inaudible footsteps caught his attention, and Jack felt his chest tighten. He knew that only two individuals could be standing behind him if he turned around now. He also knew that Godwin had no wish to see him now. The normally shipshape, always calm Director had dismissed him before with something approaching vexation, and whether he was right or wrong he was never the kind to offer an apology freely.

Part of him didn't want to turn. He was surprised by this. The King had never hesitated before in his life - every choice had been made at the drop of a hat, with only a second's thought. Hesitation had never stayed his hand before or shaken his resolve - it was cold logic and reasoning that had guided every move he made in those Duels, which had guided him to the top of Neo Domino City. But as much as he would have liked to deny it, the fact was that it had been him making those choices not so long ago – hurting those people close to him without remorse or recognition, purely because he was the King.

But he was no longer the King. A tiny voice inside reminded him of this - now he was only the wanderer who sought true satisfaction, not the false kind provided to him by Godwin for so long. In a way, then, he was not so different from Kiryu. As he thought of his childhood friend he saw also the Dark Signer who had brought Yusei to death's door only days ago. He had changed, Jack lamented, all because of a misunderstanding.

He, on the other hand had no such excuse. He had never misunderstood the one behind him.

He did what the King would not have done. He tore his gaze from the crimson sunset and stared evenly at Mikage, unflinching under her venomous glare. Anger had been the first emotion to spring to him when last he had seen these eyes. Even now he could hear her words as if she were still speaking them, deriding Aki for her sexuality and Luca for simply being there. He had defended them with that anger, but now it was heavy guilt that he felt as he looked at her, which weighed down his tongue and prevented him from speaking. Her outburst then had been made through her own choice, but his actions were what had pushed her to it. Every single thing she had said could have been prevented, had he never travelled upon the Path of the King.

A small smile formed over her petite lips, and her golden eyes narrowed harshly. She crossed her arms and bared her teeth, just for a moment. She was enjoying this, Jack realized with a heavy heart. He took a step forward, and Mikage made no move to stop him. Her smile was the unsettling smile of a predator, one who had a long-sought after hunt in their hands at last. He bowed his head with deliberate meekness, and a tiny sound escaped Mikage's lips. A laugh, almost certainly.

He took another step forward, until he stood over her. The tiny woman could only come up to his chest, but she was unfazed. On the contrary, she looked up at him expectantly. With one finger she pointed to the ground.

"Mikage…" he spoke without thinking. "How did I do this to you?"

There was no reply. She just looked back with loathing. _What right do you have to ask me that?_ Her eyes seemed to ask.

"Is it my refusal to need you that drove you to your words that night? Or perhaps the way I confided in others in such a way I never did to you?"

"Is it my forgiveness you seek?" Her tone was laced with contempt and disgust.

There was no reply. He just looked back, sadly.

She laughed darkly and sauntered forward. "Will you kneel before me, kiss my feet and beg me to guide you?"

"No," Jack replied softly, "never."

"Then you have no right to ask anything of me." Her hands rested on his shoulders, and with the lightest touch she pushed him back. Something deep down made him submit to her pushes, taking a step back with each one. Perhaps it was the thought of standing up to her again, of seeing the Mikage he had taken for granted all this time becoming the demon she had that night. Her pushes came to a stop as Jack's lower back pressed against the balcony railing, and she smiled coldly. "One last push," she whispered, "and Death claims you. The Crimson Dragon cannot give you wings, after all." Her hands shivered, as if with excitement.

Jack felt a chill run through him. "You would have me beg for my life."

She nodded. "Right now I control your future. I can let you live, to fight and die for the Signers. Per contra, I could also push you to your death now. The Signers will go to war without you and they will be overwhelmed."

"Yusei is with them. They will not falter."

"Yusei is one man. He may only fight one Dark Signer at a time. The others, a dyke and two children, must fight alone, and with only their strength to aid them…" she left it hanging.

Jack began to raise his own hands. To take Mikage's in them, to lower them to her side. The moment he did, but she flinched and pushed firmly, almost sending the Duellist teetering over the edge. Fear seized him for just a moment, but instead of crying out he tried to lunge out for the railing - and missed. He expected to feel himself plummeting, and silently he cursed himself for his slow reaction, but something was holding him back. Blinking, he looked down.

It was Mikage's hands, ironically, still gripping onto his shirt so firmly that saved him from the merciless descent behind him. The railing still pressed into his back firmly as well, as if to remind him it existed.

"I wouldn't do that again," she said calmly, as if nothing had happened. Her smile, but, told another story.

Jack caught his breath. His heart was racing in his chest, but his face showed no sign. He steadied himself, ready this time to seize the railing if need be. "For the sake of the others, then, you would have me beg."

"Yes," she agreed. Ever so slightly she pulled him back, her eyes gleaming. "Tell me how much life means to you, tell me how grateful you would be if I stepped away." Her tone was becoming more excited. "Tell me, Former King, how your life and freedom would become my possessions and how your desire would be controlled by my own."

"You seek to turn me into you?"

"I seek to make you mine," she corrected. "A loyal servant without a choice, tending to a master who has nothing but anger and disregard for him! A servant who cannot depend on his master for anything but work and when not speaking into deaf ears, shall only elicit wrath and never thanks."

Jack flinched, and Mikage's smile grew. The setting she had described was too familiar, one that he could envision immediately. One that had risen upon the Path of the King, and one that he had been blinded to by his own hubris.

_Everything is my fault. _Something caught in his throat as he looked at Mikage and reflected on her words, comparing himself to them. He wanted desperately to calm her, to remind her of the good times they had shared.

_Only...there are none._ He had no right to say anything, let alone remind her of the experiences that had led to this. Some small, guilty part of him saw letting her push him from the building as an act of atonement.

_Only that would solve nothing._ He grimaced even as he thought of it. Only pain could come of that future.

_So what, then? _He closed his eyes, and in his mind's eye he saw the path that had become so familiar to him – that path that would only end with his death, the Path of Desire. A path not at all paved, but made through his actions. He saw himself on that path, with his feet dangling over a black abyss below. His wants and actions would provide footing for him as he stepped forward, but what was it that he wanted now?

"Mikage…" He swallowed the lump in his throat, and in that moment he made his decision. "I'm sorry."

"Is this you begging, then?" She eyed him with mocking disgust.

He shook his head. His hands moved again, but before Mikage could react he had seized her hands and forced them away, holding on. Her eyes hardened, and she tried to squirm away "Do I truly need to beg a friend for my life?"

Her struggling ceased abruptly, and her mouth hung open for a moment. It quickly snapped shut, but as she said simply, "What?"

"I have not been a good friend," he admitted. He loosened his grip on her hands, but not enough for her to struggle free. "In fact, I have not been a good person. Say anything you like about me, it is true. I'm negligent, I'm uncaring, I'm self-centred. I have never shown you anything but this."

"Then beg me for mercy," she said. Her eyes had widened, and Jack was struck with momentary confusion. Something was in there, something that didn't belong. "Give me the satisfaction of your tears!"

"That would do neither of us any good and you know it," Jack told her, batting away his confusion. Whatever he had seen had vanished as quickly as it had come. He bowed his head. "Although you, above all else are entitled to see them, I think it more important that you hear this first."

Her eyes changed again and she shook her head. "No, just beg me! Show me how pathetic you truly are!"

"Mikage." He released her hands, and before she could push again he had embraced her. Her shouted complaints came to an abrupt, shuddering stop as she froze. "I'm sorry. For everything."

For a moment, there was almost nothing. No movement, no sound, barring that of Neo Domino City below them. Thoughts were racing through Jack's mind at that moment but, conflicted and confused. He hadn't intended to embrace her, but now that he had, he knew that he had wanted to. It felt...right. That was the only way to put it, and it sent another stab of guilt through his heart. What of Carly, then? Where was the Path of Desire to lead him concerning her?

A soft sound came, muffled in his shoulder. Words, he thought, but as he pulled back he was disturbed to realize it was quiet laughter. Derisive, disbelieving, even angry, but laughter all the same as she managed to push away, just enough to look into his eyes. "Jack Atlas, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Again the chill struck him, as again he saw _that_ in Mikage's eyes. A flash of...blue? "What?"

Her cold smile grew, and she began to laugh harder. "Her form is mine. Her ears and heart, however are not."

His face turned livid, and as if in reply the Mark of the Dragon upon his arm began to glow. With violent force Mikage managed to pull herself away. This time, but she did not push, instead backing away as Jack strode forward furiously. "Who are you? What have you done with Mikage?"

"What has she done with herself, you mean?" It was Mikage's body he was looking at, he was certain of it. Her mocking eyes, however, were not her gentle gold, but instead suddenly a piercing ice blue. Looking into them, he felt something indescribable – something brutal that tried to freeze him in place, until the Mark of the Dragon repelled it. She grimaced, but was unshaken. "If I told you, what would you do about it?"

"You need ask?" Jack dropped Carly's glasses, clenching his fist. "I would find her and save her!"

"The selfish ambition of a King, then." It was undeniably a male laugh that left Mikage's lips, as she rolled the blue eyes that did not belong to her. "To perceive all as his own and to hold onto all he perceives as his own, all while never letting another touch it."

"This is not that!" Jack declared firmly. "This…what I want…is the selfless dedication of a friend!"

There was a taunting smile in those blue eyes. "You would rescue the girl who, by her own will would have pushed you to your death without a second thought?"

"I made her that way! I forced her to bear my temper and my scorn, all because I had abandoned who I truly was!"

"Ah, I see." The voice laughed dryly. "You blame Rex Godwin then, for giving you what he did?"

"No!" Jack shook his head. "There is only one person that is worthy of the blame here…"

"Me, then?"

"No!" He pointed firmly. "Myself! I am the one who chose that path, who let its influence change me and who chose not to treat her with kindness and respect! I am the only one who deserves that blame, and I bear it with due shame!"

"Then jump, for her sake. Bring her the joy you denied her for so long."

"I'll do better than that…" the Mark's glow intensified, and Jack seized her. "I'll save her from your influence!"

The speaker only laughed in response, and Jack blinked as suddenly dust filled his hands. Mikage, he realized with horror was crumbling before his very eyes to reveal…he choked back a disgusted sound, as an unrecognizable corpse fell through the broken illusion, falling before his feet. A _male_ corpse, he realized and for just a moment he felt relief. This was _not_ Mikage dying in his hands, then. His eyes stopped, however on the glowing Mark upon the corpse's arm. The vivid, purple spider that ran from his elbow to his hand.

At last, it dawned on him. "Dark Signer! What is this!"

"Ah, so you know." The corpse's twisted lips changed to a cold smile. That piercing, blue light continued to stare at him from empty sockets as it strained to look at him. "This form was a falsity, created through my magic. Mikage is with us, Jack Atlas. Your refusal to love her has driven her into our arms, and it shall be us who care for her far more than you did for her!"

"No…!" He clenched his fist, holding it threatening over the corpse. "Give her back!"

"She came to us willingly, and shall join us willingly as well." The corpse gave one final dry laugh. "All spurred on by your actions…"

The corpse fell silent, and the blue light disappeared.

Jack was trembling. The glow of the Mark subsided abruptly, but his emotion did not. Words were no longer an option, and as he glared towards Satellite it was a furious, primal cry that escaped his throat. In that moment he wanted to leap from the balcony of Public Security, and, in some gravity-defying stunt clear not only Neo Domino City, but the large water body beyond it as well and land in Satellite, where he could fight the one who had just spoken to him. However, some semblance of sanity held him still and denied him.

Not just one, then, but two. The Path of Desire, even now had sentenced two he knew to a terrible fate. He had sentenced two of those closest to him to death – how long would it be now, he wondered until it was Aki who died through his actions? Or the Twins, who would inevitably fight to the death to protect her? Or even Yusei...?

He could not back away, but. Glancing down at his Deck, Jack steeled himself. He had never wavered before a challenge yet, and with Mikage's life on the line now was hardly the time to start either. She, along with every single person in Satellite were depending upon him and the Signers now, for him to be there in their time of need.

_To be there._ It stuck him suddenly – he had not been there when Carly had been absorbed by the Hummingbird, when Mikage had left. It had happened, then because he had not been there to protect or support them. And yet, he reminded himself, neither were dead. Not yet, at least. The old Jack Atlas, the King could not have cared less about others, and yet...

He could do it, he reminded himself. He looked down at the dropped glasses and picked them up, slipping them carefully into his coat. With the X-Sabers by his side and with his turbulent soul to backup his resolve, he could find a way to rescue Mikage _and_ Carly. Words he had spoken to the impostor clung to his mind, refusing to let go. Words that were long overdue to the true Mikage, and the submissiveness required to deliver them.

This time, he realized, the Path of Desire was one where by bowing one's head, they could hold it high. He glared up at the sun, silently willing it to set already. Tomorrow, he knew would come the union of the Signers, and with it the beginning of their battle against the Dark Signers. None of them were obligated to fight, but he would not falter now, not when this depended on him. Even if alone, with only the X-Sabers and Red Demon's Dragon to fight with him, he would destroy those who had taken his friends.

For those closest to him, then, he would head into battle, with or without the other Signers...


End file.
